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Showing posts from 2014

Gorgito's Ice Rink

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The debut novel from Elizabeth Ducie is now available on Amazon as an ebook or as a paperback. Gorgito's Ice Rink is a tale of love, loss and broken promises.  Bureaucracy, corruption, economic melt-down and the harsh climate are just some of the barriers Gorgito Tabatadze faces in his quest to build a championship ice-rink in post-Soviet Russia. On the surface, he is helping to re-unite a distraught young boy with his sister, a talented ice skater who has moved to America to train. But inside, he is motivated by memories of another lost sister and a promise to his mother which he was unable to fulfil.   Gorgito's Ice Rink  can be found here . It's been a busy few months for Elizabeth who recently won the Fiction Prize at the Graham Greene Birthplace Trust Creative Writing Awards. In July, she published the second in her series of ebooks on business skills for writers. The Business of Writing: Part Two Finance Matters can be found here .  

The Creative Writing Student's Handbook

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This month, Cathie Hartigan and Margaret James have brought out their  Creative Writing Student's Handbook  in paperback. Already a five-star success on Kindle, the paperback is available from Amazon  and takes students through the entire creative writing process. It has plenty of practical advice, helpful exercises, lots of tips and links to useful websites, and is an indispensable manual for new and seasoned writers alike. 'A very helpful guide.' Dr Paul Vlitos - Programme Director of BA English Literature with Creative Writing. University of Surrey, Guildford, UK

Results - short story competition 2013/14

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Exeter Writers are delighted to announce the results of this year's short story competition.  Many thanks to everyone who entered. Commiserations to those whose stories weren't placed, and many congratulations to our winners: First prize - Dancing the Animals by Tracey Glasspool  Second prize - Bigger than the Wind by Jim Kroepfl Third prize - The Front Line by Jim Kroepfl Tracey Glasspool also wins the Devon prize. Short listed (in alphabetical order):   About love - Michelle Crowther   Bitten - Sophie Hampton   Bone hard ground - Ken Elkes   Debt - Tom Vowler   Phosphorescence - Rowena MacDonald   The Empress of Poland - Filipa Komuro   The whereabouts of Cissy Flood - Sharon Boyle The final judging

1st Prize (2013/14) - Dancing the Animals by Tracey Glasspool

Dancing The Animals by Tracey Glasspool “Ulfa? Ulfa!” I can hear Granna in the distance. She’s calling me home but I want to stay. The forest has become my refuge again. Here, amongst the tangle of trees, I can drown out the voices which followed me; teasing me, taunting me, calling me ghost-eyes. Mama says I should be proud of my eyes - ice-grey like my father’s, a memory of him. But I so want them to be brown like Orson and Aya’s. Normal.

2nd place - Bigger than the Wind by Jim Kroepfl

Bigger Than The Wind  by Jim Kroepfl It’s been three days since the wind took my dad. Three days of huddling in the old school building trying to push the image out of my head, wondering if we can hang on until spring. I think about Mandi and hope she’s safe in her cellar, bravely waiting it out, praying for her family. I should have insisted she come here. I should have made her. I think about Mandi all the time, because when I do, I don’t hear the wind.

3rd place - The Front Line by Jim Kroepfl

Update 20/09/2015 - Jim Kroepfl's 3rd place story The Front Line has been placed in a competition by the Midway Journal in Minnesota. The journal wishes to publish the story, and for this reason we have temporarily removed it from our website. Congratulations, Jim!

Bread for the Bourgeoisie

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This week saw the launch of Simon Kettlewell's novel  Bread for the Bourgeoisie . An action-packed thriller set in the seamy world of human trafficking, it is already attracting excellent reviews. Download it on Kindle from  Amazon . @simonkettlewell

The Business of Writing

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Elizabeth Ducie, a member of Exeter Writers, has published the first in her series of ebooks on The Business of Writing , aimed at authors who write for a living. “As a scientist, I love systems and paperwork,” she says, “but many writers I meet are the complete opposite. The whole idea of administration scares them. The purpose of this series is to provide a simple road map for running a small business, which is what we are all doing if we write for a living.” The first book: Business Start-Up can be found here. The second in the series: Finance Matters will be available later this summer and the third, which will focus on skills such as time management and project planning, will be published towards the end of the year.

Truly, Madly, Deeply

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Cathie Hartigan is celebrating the publication of her story 'Making the Grade' in the digital edition of Truly, Madly, Deeply . This collection brings together all-new, specially selected stories from star authors from the Romantic Novelists' Association, including Adele Parks, Katie Fforde, Carole Matthews and Miranda Dickinson. Cathie is very proud to be in such illustrious company - and to have her name on the cover of part 10 of the series of mini-ebooks : Both collections are available for Kindle from amazon.co.uk.

EW Anthology and Exeter Novel Prize

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On Saturday, at St Stephen's Church in Exeter,  the launch of Exeter Writers' new anthology The Coastal Zoo  took place in an event that also saw the inaugural Exeter Novel Prize  being awarded to an Exeter Writer! Well attended by over 100 guests (including Ben Bradshaw MP, the judge Broo Doherty of DMM Literary Agency, the six Exeter Novel Prize finalists and many members of Exeter Writers), the event was a tremendous success. The prize had a very high-quality shortlist ,  but in the end Broo announced that Su Bristow's  Sealskin  was the winner of the £500 prize, a lovely trophy and - most exciting - an opportunity for the novel to be considered by a literary agent. The Coastal Zoo , our beautifully typeset and printed new anthology, includes stories, scripts and poems by Exeter Writers as well as the winning stories from the last five years' Exeter Writers Short Story Competitions. It is available  here .

Exeter Novel Prize

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On Saturday 22nd March, the winner of CreativeWritingMatters' inaugural Exeter Novel Prize will be announced at a ceremony in the heart of Exeter city centre. Sponsored by Exeter Writers, the £500 first prize will be presented by Ben Bradshaw MP, as well as £50 runnner-up prizes for the five other shortlisted writers. Also in attendance will be the prize's judge Broo Doherty of DHH Literary Agency, the CreativeWritingMatters team, and many local authors. The ceremony begins at 2 p.m. at the beautiful St Stephen's Church on Exeter's High Street. All are welcome.

Cat Walks

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Three prolific Exeter Writers are seeing their new collection rocketing up the Amazon charts. Cat Walks , a collection of three short stories on a feline theme, is available to download as an e-book from Amazon . Published on 28th February, Cat Walks has been receiving five-star reviews. Pick up this purr-fect little book today!

The Wedding Diary

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Prolific writer, journalist and teacher Margaret James 's latest novel The Wedding Diary has become a huge hit since its publication last year - and now it's been shortlisted in the 2014 Romantic Novelists Association Awards. The winners will be announced on 17th March at a ceremony in London hosted by Darcey Bussell. Good luck, Margaret! Check out the full shortlists here .

Competition success

The Harry Bowling Prize is awarded every two years by Headline Publishing and the MBA literary agency. Previous years have seen success for Exeter Writers Sophie Duffy (runner-up in 2008) and Cathie Hartigan (longlisted in 2010). This year it’s the turn of Daniel Knibb, who has been shortlisted in both novel and – new for this year – flash fiction categories. The winners will be announced in March at harrybowlingprize.co.uk . Dan and his fellow Exeter Writers Su Bristow and Gill Barr have been longlisted for the exciting new Exeter Novel Prize , judged by the literary agent Broo Doherty. Keep an eye out for the shortlist, which will be published this Friday.

A far-reaching imagination

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Ron Tiner, illustrator and Exeter Writer, celebrates his successful book Drawing From Your Imagination finding a new audience. Budding Chinese illustrators can now enjoy Ron's guide and its rather splendid new cover: